Hiding In the Trees

This is our dog Annie.

Yesterday, she was terribly interested in something that was in one of our trees in the Big Woods.

Do you have a guess at what may be high in the tree Annie is watching???

Have you ever heard of a Whangdoodle???

Only one and a half days of school remaining for us...whohoooooo.


We handed out over 20 tropheys at Awards Day on Friday to our Sixth Graders for Accelerated Reading.  Tomorrow we are having a "Buy to Build Your Own Sundae" Party.  Kids who got their AR points for the nine weeks get a bowl of ice cream.  Then, they buy the toppings for their ice cream with their AR points.  Chocolate syrup costs 2 points, m&m's cost 4 points and so on.


I really believe in Accelerated Reading...if you know good books to read.  That is the key.


And so...we have today's Sunday Fun Read.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles was written by famous singer and actress Julie Andrews.  This book is a wonderful book of imaginative fiction.  It is one you cannot put down because you really want to find out what a Whangdoodle is....

Happy Reading!!!

Hostas

Finally...

I have had some time to work in my yard.

I love springtime...but things get so busy at school.  It seems like life just stops every where else while we end the school year.

It felt so good last evening to come home and plant a few flowers.

I also took a few pictures while I was working in the yard.

There are very few flowering plants that can be used in a shade garden.

My favorite green plant has to be the hosta.

Hostas look especially nice after they have just come out of the ground. 

This blue hosta is one of my favorites. 

 I purchased it several years ago, and I have divided it several times.

It adds a little different coloring to the shade garden.

Hostas are very easy to grow.

I'll take some pictures of the flowers I planted once they have had a chance to grow.

Sausage and Cream Cheese Breakfast Casserole

This has become my most requested recipe.
It is so easy to make.
People like that it is a breakfast casserole minus the eggs.

You will need:
     2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (8 ounces)
     1 pound sausage
     8 ounces cream cheese
     8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

First spread one package of crescent rolls out in a glass baking dish as follows.  Pinch seams closed.

Then brown sausage in a skillet.

Drain sausage.

Place cream cheese in skillet and melt over low heat.

(I know...this is the only time I have ever melted cream cheese.  Extra hint...low fat cream cheese will not work.)

Add sausage to melted cream cheese and stir together.

Spread mixture out on top of crescent rolls.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of sausage mixture and then top with second can of

crescent rolls, pinching seams as well as you can.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Cut into squares and serve warm.

Yum!!!

Enjoy!!!

We Survived Spelunking and Sleeping in a Cave

Hip Hip Hooray...

We finally got to make up our trip to the Cumberland Caverns and the Renaissance Fair.

After being canceled because of the Nashville Flood, we were able to make up my daughter's LEAP Field Trip yesterday and today.

Our first stop was spelunking at Cumberland Caverns.

That is my daughter crawling through the test box that you have to prove you can make it through before you can actually go spelunking.

O.K. so, I did not actually go spelunking.  I opted to wait for the walking tour.

My daughter loved the adventure of the spelunking tour. 

Then, we spent the night in the cave.

I cannot believe that I actually spent the night in a cave.

Today, we go up, ate breakfast in the cave, and then headed to the Renaissance Festival in Murfreesboro.

There was jousting, joking, juggling, and jolly merrymaking.

We saw people dressed in all kinds of period costumes.

We were surprised by how many people visiting the fair were dressed in the clothing of the day.

The highlight of the day was finally seeing the castle Gwynn up close.

It was a beautiful two days,and we had great fun with our LEAP friends.

Squirrels in the Big Woods

I do believe I have discovered what has been stealing my flowers.

We have squirrels all over the Big Woods.

We have never had a problem with squirrels until this summer.

We are pretty sure it is because of the passing of our cat, Chase.

Chase was a beautiful cat.

He was very good at keeping squirrels, mice, snakes, etc. "chased" away from our home.

We lost Chase over the winter.

Now, we have lots and lots of squirrels.

The Big Woods may be short on flowers this summer.

We miss you, Chase.

Potato Salad

My Mother-in-law makes the best potato salad.  I didn't like potato salad until about three years ago, and now I love it.  She shared her recipe with me...I can get close, but hers is the best. 

You will need the following:

     potatoes                                  pickles

     8 boiled eggs                           mayonaise

     salt                                          mustard

     pepper                                    onion

I believe one of the secrets to good potato sald is dicing the potatoes really small.  Cook them in water over medium heat until tender when touched with a fork...don't cook too long.

After cooking, drain the potatoes in a strainer, cool, and then place them back in the original pan.  Another secret is to let the potatoes cool before you start adding other ingredients.  First add salt and pepper to taste.

Next chop about 1/2 of an onion and some pickles to taste.  I like to use vidalia onions, and if you have access to chunk sweet pickles, they will make your potatoe salad delicious.  I am very lucky that my Nashville brother makes chunk pickles from the cucumbers in his garden and gives them to us every year for Christmas.  I count on these pickles for my potato salad and my chicken salad.  (Brother if you happen to be reading this, I have a very special "pickle" gift for you the next time you are home.  And no, it is not canning jars so you can make me more pickles. Ha)

Be sure to dice your pickles and onions super fine.  Nobody wants a big bite of onion when biting into their potato salad.

You'll want to boil 8 eggs ahead of time and let them cool.

Also, dice your eggs super fine.

Now it is time for the mayo and the mustard.

Add a small dab of mustard and larger dabs of mayonaise.  Once again, add to your taste...just enough to make the potato salad moist but not liquidy.

And there you have it, a lovely bowl of potato salad.  Be sure to refrigerate when complete.

Enjoy!!!